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Fox Broadcasting moved to appeal after a U.S. district court judge in California denied the company's attempt to stop two features of DISH Network's Hopper DVR. The judge ruled that Fox failed to prove that the two features -- the AutoHop ad skipper and the Primetime Anytime automatic recorder -- caused enough damage to warrant a ban. DISH hailed the ruling as a victory for consumer choice.

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A federal judge has given a tentative victory to DISH Network in a lawsuit concerning its AutoHop ad-skipping DVR service, ruling that it represents fair use under the 1984 Sony Betamax Supreme Court case. DISH did not violate Fox Broadcasting's copyrights with the service, U.S. District Judge Dolly Gee said. But the judge didn't make a decision about Fox's breach-of-contract claims against DISH.

A federal appeals court has upheld a lower court decision turning back Fox Broadcasting's bid for a preliminary injunction against DISH Network's Hopper ad-skipping DVR. Fox's original lawsuit to block DISH from offering the Hopper will now be heard by a lower court.

Fox has petitioned a federal court in California to put a halt to DISH Network's Hopper DVR, saying its new streaming and recording features are in violation of copyright law and the satcaster's pact with Fox. "Dish's licensing agreement with Fox gives Dish only the limited right to retransmit Fox's live broadcast signal over Dish's satellite television distribution system," Fox wrote. Fox previously had sought to block the DVR because of its ad-skipping feature.

A federal judge in California said Fox Broadcasting didn't show it had sustained enough damage from DISH Network's ad-skipping "Hopper" DVR box, denying the broadcaster a preliminary injunction. But Fox says the ruling, which is sealed, "found the copies Dish makes for its AutoHop service constitute copyright infringement and breach the parties' contract."

DISH Network, which has been sued by CBS, Fox and NBC because of the ad-skipping feature in its Hopper DVR, has updated the controls to give users more say over their programming choices. Among the key changes is that the default setting will be to include ads, not skip them. The changes reportedly could be a way to help DISH defend against the lawsuit's claims that the AutoHop feature violates copyright and retransmission consent provisions.